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Playoffs, a season early Topic

Do you know why OSU has changed the way they schedule? Because they KNOW victories over a weak B1G(and there's no predicting the strength of a conference years in advance) and a group of cupcakes will not allow them entry into a playoff. THAT'S the situation they're in this year.

Posted by MikeT23 on 10/22/2013 1:59:00 PM (view original):Do you know why OSU has changed the way they schedule? Because they KNOW victories over a weak B1G(and there's no predicting the strength of a conference years in advance) and a group of cupcakes will not allow them entry into a playoff. THAT'S the situation they're in this year.

Of course, and I expect other teams to follow suit. At least OSU has consistently attempted to schedule a major conference power opponent. It doesn't always work out and they get a team like California, but historically that hasn't been the case.

This year, their out of conference is horrible. Even if they're forgiven for Cal, is there a legit excuse for Buffalo, SDSU AND Florida A&M? That's giving them a pass for the weak conference but they went overboard with three like that.

Posted by MikeT23 on 10/22/2013 3:32:00 PM (view original):This year, their out of conference is horrible. Even if they're forgiven for Cal, is there a legit excuse for Buffalo, SDSU AND Florida A&M? That's giving them a pass for the weak conference but they went overboard with three like that.

But that is typical. Look at Auburn. washington St., arkansas st., western carolina, florida atlantic. How about A&M. rice, sam houston st., smu, utep. LSU (tcu, uab, kent st., furman). Arkansas (UL lafayette, samford, southern miss, rutgers). Bama has Va Tech, but also colorado st., georgia st., chattanooga. Miss. St. has Okie St., but then adds the powers that are alcorn st., troy, bowling green. Ole Miss has Texas, and the really difficult games of SE missouri, idaho, troy. I can do this all morning as this is the norm, not the exception.

I get that the SEC is better than the Big Ten this year, but some of that is definitely a bit of a luck factor, yet I don't see you killing the SEC teams for their terrible scheduling. Why treat Ohio State different than virtually every other team?

That's the problem Boise State and every other undefeated "small conference" team has had. OSU is just in the unfortunate situation of being in a weak conference this year. Under normal circumstances, victories over MI, WI and then a Nebraska in the conference championship would look pretty damn good.

Here's the problem OSU has: They're the big kid in class. When this 200 lb 12 y/o beats up a 100 lb 12 y/o, everybody says "So what? You're twice his size." If it's a good fight, it's "Damn, that little dude almost whipped your ***." And, if he loses, it's "That little dude kicked your stupid ***. You must be a *****!!"

They can't prove themselves.

Sure those three SEC schools always play their in state ACC rival (and occasionally add another team), which is commendable, but again that isn't the norm (and even they often don't play more than just their rival). Florida, for example, next year plays FSU (as always), Idaho, Eastern Michigan, and Eastern Kentucky while South Carolina has their usual game against Clemson and then adds the powers that are East Carolina, Furman, and South Alabama.

USC and Michigan are pretty consistently the only "elite" teams that play at least 2 power conference (or ND) opponents and Michigan is losing ND and with the Big Ten going to 9 conference games, I'm not sure they will keep that trend up (seems like the opposite of Ohio State is scheduling more and more against power conference schools).

Again, the problem OSU has is that the B10 is weak and their "traditional big game" against Michigan is less than stellar. They can't be held accountable for those 8 games but they scheduled very weak for the other 4. It's just impossible for them to prove they belong in the top 4. Their best hope is a clusterfuck amongst the rest of the top 10(and they got a good start on it last week with all the SEC upsets, the beatdown of Clemson and Louisville proving they don't belong).

IMO, Baylor is going to have a stronger case than OSU if they manage to stay undefeated. Oklahoma and Texas are better than Wisconsin and Michigan. They also destroyed Buffalo while OSU beat them by 20.

Posted by MikeT23 on 10/24/2013 9:39:00 AM (view original):Again, the problem OSU has is that the B10 is weak and their "traditional big game" against Michigan is less than stellar. They can't be held accountable for those 8 games but they scheduled very weak for the other 4. It's just impossible for them to prove they belong in the top 4. Their best hope is a clusterfuck amongst the rest of the top 10(and they got a good start on it last week with all the SEC upsets, the beatdown of Clemson and Louisville proving they don't belong).

IMO, Baylor is going to have a stronger case than OSU if they manage to stay undefeated. Oklahoma and Texas are better than Wisconsin and Michigan. They also destroyed Buffalo while OSU beat them by 20.

OSU was up on Buffalo 23-0 at the end of the first quarter and then just let off the gas. They probably should have kept the pedal a bit longer than they did. And for the record, Buffalo is 5-2 and in first place in their division of the MAC. They aren't a horrid team. San Diego St. is also currently unbeaten in the Mountain West so that helps a bit as well (though I expect them to fall off a great deal down the stretch). Texas got crushed by BYU (and Ole Miss). I have a hard time saying they are a better win than Wisconsin or Michigan. Oklahoma v. T Tech this weekend should tell a great deal about where those two teams are and Baylor has the god awful teams that are Iowa St., Kansas St., and Kansas in conference (and TCU and WV aren't exactly good teams) plus the stellar non-con that is Wofford, Louisiana Monroe, and the aforementioned Buffalo. Given OSU's extra game I would feel pretty comfortable saying Ohio State played a tougher schedule than Baylor from top to bottom when all is said and done.

I don't see "Well at least Ohio St played a better schedule then Baylor" is a winning argument whether it is correct or not.

I was just commenting on that argument he made.

I've said all along Ohio State would be behind an unbeaten Alabama/Missouri, Oregon, or Florida State. There really isn't much of an argument to be made in favor of Ohio State utilizing objective criteria from the actual season. It would certainly help OSU's case if Michigan and Nebraska both win out (except for obviously their game and their games against OSU), if Wisconsin finishes 10-2, and if Clemson and some of the Pac 12 teams flame out, but that still probably won't be enough for OSU to jump any of those 3 without a loss.

The topic of this thread was a 4 team playoff. We all seems to agree that AL, Oregon, FSU are top 3. The 4th spot is up for grabs(assuming no total collapse of the top 3). That's where the discussion starts.

Assuming I'm the only one who believes a 1 loss team deserves a shot, who's #4? Miami and FSU play so one of them will lose(Mizzou would also have to lose for the rest to remain undefeated). I assume we're tossing out Fresno State and Northern Ill. That leaves Baylor and OSU. I don't see how OSU wins that argument.